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Friends don’t let friends date vampires. Mel lives in New Whitby, a town in Maine where vampires and human coexist. Unlike many of her fellow humans, Mel does not get the intrigue of vampires; she prefers not to work with or date them. However, her best friend Cathy has always been somewhat obsessed with vampires and when one is a new student at their high school, Mel tries everything to get Cathy away from him and the idea of turning into a vampire. This is a book I have been waiting for since the outpouring of paranormal romance in young adult literature. I loved how the authors strike a greatbalance between mocking the genre, but they also convey an understanding of the attraction to vampire romance. The diverse characters are memorably drawn and Mel –Mel is such a character. I love her staunch loyalty to her friends and her realist nature. The prose is brilliantly funny and will have you laughing out loud. One for vampire lovers and haters alike. Don’t miss this book!

To say that I enjoyed this book is an understatement.
Enamored with it, is more like it. We’ve all read books with a love story; many
of them can be great, inspirational even, but few are quite literally magical. The Night Circus centers around two young magicians, Celia and
Marco, who are unknowingly in a competition with one another; their venue is a
traveling circus that seems to appear in towns out of thin air, whose doors
only open at night. This debut author packs the book full of eloquent scenes.
Scenes that not only kept me enthralled with the book, but also had me wishing
this particular circus really did exist. So if you’re ready to be swept away by
an enchanting love story, this is definitely the book for you!

I read this while waiting for my flight and found myself
so completely engrossed in this Russian-based fantasy that I didn’t mind the
flight delay.Orphans Alina and Mal met
when they were kids and became inseparable growing up. Years later, they are
still together & serving in the army – Alina in the cartographers corps and
Mal with the trackers. When attacked in the Shadow Fold, Alina brings forth an
unbelievable amount of Grisha magic that she never knew she had. Taken away from
her best friend Mal for magical training, Alina enters a new world of court
intrigue and power politics where to survive, she must figure out whom to trust
and the games being played. Bardugo has crafted a stunning plot-driven story
with a character that you can’t help but root for. Additionally, the
Russian-influenced world building is certainly unique to the genre.

- Reviewed by Connie from Books Inc. Opera Plaza

In Shadow and Bone Bardugo has created a unque
world filled with magic, Russian culture, and flawed but engaging characters.
When her previously unknown powers are revealed, Alina is ripped away from her
best friend Mal, the only family she has ever known, and put into the power of
the mysterious Darkling, the charismatic and powerful leader of a magical
order. Suddenly thrust into a world of luxury and secrets and hailed as the
savior of her nation, Alina must figure out who she wants to be and who she can
trust before it's too late. This book was exactly what I wanted when I picked
it up, a well-written, utterly engrossing YA fantasy.

While I first read this series a couple years ago, with the recent release of Out of Sight, Out of Time (book 5) I thought I revisited the previous books to reacquaint myself with the series before I tackle the newest book

Cammie Morgan goes to Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women in Roseville, Virginia where her mom is the headmistress. Sounds like a posh school for spoiled rich heiresses, right? That’s where you are wrong. Gallagher Academy is a spy school for girls where the teachers teach their students to hack into the CIA and dismantle dirty bombs. While each book has their own plotline, the overarching story for the series deals with the mystery surrounding Cammie’s father disappearance when she was a little girl.

Rereading the series has been fun and it is still full of sass, fun and kick-ass moments (and I mean that literally). I love the series’ emphasizes on strong female characters and friendships as well as Carter’s wit that keeps me laughing at various intervals. Well-paced and witty, this series reads like a movie. Great for a reluctant reader. Also its squeaky-clean romance makes it a good novel for middle and high schoolers looking for a novel that’s more fun than mushy.

I tutor a thirteen year old in creative writing, and given
my job and our relationship we obviously talk about books. A lot. And we
recommend each other a lot of books. And I have to admit, since she will likely
read this review and will call me out if I don’t admit, that she reads far more
of the books I recommend to her than I read of what she recommends to me. Which
isn’t fair or right, but it’s the occupational hazard of a bookseller that
you’re never reading all the books that have been recommended to you by anyone,
no matter how much you respect their opinion.

After a solid year of having NOT read a few of the books
she’s recommended to me, she said: “Ok, fine,” in a very adult voice. “If
you’re only going to read one of the books I recommend to you,” (and
here she gave me a look as if to say, ‘I’m letting you off easy, you slacker’)
“You HAVE to read the Knife of Never Letting Go.”

I asked her why. “Because it’s IMPORTANT,”
she said.

Well. Clearly I had to read it.
Immediately.

And she was totally right.

The Knife of Never Letting Go
is the first in the Chaos Walking Trilogy from British author Patrick Ness. It
came out several years ago in the US, and I even remember picking it up and
thinking, I really ought to read this, and then of course, not doing so.
My mistake. Contained in the pages of The Knife of Never Letting Go is a
story that is as exciting as it is full of literary wallop. I was constantly
awed by Ness’s ability to not only move a story forward, at a desperate,
thrilling pace no less, but to simultaneously endow his prose with ruminations
befitting a literary (which is to say, reviewed by the NYT), adult novel.

As I read, I marveled in the echoes of authors like Cormac
McCarthy or even John Steinbeck in Ness’s thematic content, and relished the
emotional acuity of his narrator, Todd. And as I closed in on the end, I
thought, here it is, here’s what Young Adult is: it’s coming of age. It’s got
content not befitting the under 12 group. It’s upsetting, it’s relatable, it’s
life affirming and it’s hopeful.

When I finished, I thought: I need to tell everyone
about this book. So I hope you read it. Because that thirteen year old I tutor
was right. It is important.

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While we don't take review requests, we're always looking for guest posts, author interviews, cover reveals, and the like! If you're interested, please contact us at nymbc@booksinc.net.Note: We are limited in what we can accept and post, so please be aware that not all requests will be granted.